The Fall of Nisus and Euryalus
by Cordy Echelon
Summary: Grantaire made sure Enjolras did not fall alone.


The Fall of Nisus and Euryalus

The _ Café Musain_ was surrounded. The little band of twenty revolutionaries had no chance against hundreds of French soldiers. There was precious little time left for the resistance, who would all die for their beliefs that night. They had built a small barricade, but it was of no use against cannons and superior numbers. There would be no escape. French soldiers were closing in on all sides.

Grantaire woke up from a drunken stupor surrounded by the bodies of his friends. He hadn't wanted to fight this battle for a cause he didn't believe in. He knew they would be all on their own, the rest of Paris seemed content to sit behind their locked doors and watch them get slaughtered. But he had come to the ___Café__ anyway. He couldn't leave his friends to make their last stand alone. He had to be at their sides, even if he wasn't fighting for their cause. Instead, before the battle, he drank himself into a stupor to close out the world around him. _

Now that he was awake, he could see all those he cared about laying dead around him. He stumbled to his feet and searched the corpses for the one he was the most fearful of seeing. He didn't want to find Enjolras laying dead, but he had to check the bodies. If Enjolras was still alive, then maybe Grantaire could drag him away from the battle. Maybe Grantaire could save his life.

Enjolras was the main reason he had joined the_Les Amis de l'ABC_, a student resistance group fighting against the oppressive French monarchy. The first time he heard Enjolras give a speech to a crowd full of the poor and hopeless, Grantaire was enthralled. He was fascinated with Enjolras's passion. Even if he didn't believe in the cause, he could still sit for hours and watch the way talking about freedom lit a fire behind Enjolras's eyes.

Upon searching the ___Café__, Grantaire came upon the body of Joly laying atop someone else. Joly was an aspiring doctor and a hypochondriac. He had always taken care of the ____Les Amis____when they fell ill. Every sneeze or dizzy spell was treated with his intense medical care.__ It was a single bullet to the heart, however, rather than the Plague or some other deadly disease, that had been his downfall. Grantaire reached out with trembling hands and shut the eyelids of his friend. _

_ Someone was laying under Joly, though Grantaire couldn't see who it was. It could be Enjolras. He prayed it wasn't. Gently, he rolled Joly to the side and uncovered the body of Courfeyrac, wide-eyed, a terrified expression permenantly marring his youthful features. He had been the center of the ____Les Amis__.__ He was the one who brought excitement to every meeting. He was the one who made sure everyone was always smiling. Now, he was the one laying dead on the floor. The happy glow that had always radiated from him in life was replaced with the gray pallor of death. _

_ Grantaire felt relief fill him, glad that it wasn't Enjolras, before the feeling was replaced with shame. His friends were gone, and all he could feel was hope that Enjolras was still alive. What kind of person did that make him?_

_ Having completed his search for Enjolras's body and finding only more dead friends, Grantaire sat on the stairs and allowed himself a moment to grieve for the ____Les Amis de l'ABC____.__ They had given their lives for a cause he could not believe in. But at least they had given their lives for something. Grantaire didn't know if he would ever have that same courage. A silent tear fell onto the ground._

_ The shouts of soldiers pierced through the __Café Musain __from the top floor. Grantaire started. Could it be Enjolras? Please don't let it be Enjolras, he begged._

_ He ran up the stairs, heart pounding harder with every footstep. He came to the top and angry soldiers turned to him. They would kill him in an instant. But he paid them no heed. Someone far more important demanded his attention._

_ Grantaire had found him. He had found Enjolras. They locked eyes and Grantaire's heart stopped. The shining leader of the ____Les Amis__ was standing resolute, accepting his fate, prepared to die for his country, as he always had been. Looking at Enjolras standing without fear, Grantaire was inspired. _

_ He recalled the story of Nisus and Eurylaus. During the Trojan war, Nisus had been too late to save Euryalus from the Greeks, so he decided to sacrifice himself alongside his friend. The two had died together in battle, and Grantaire would ensure he and Enjolras would do the same. Enjolras would __give his life for his country, and Grantaire would give his life for Enjolras. He finally knew what it felt like to believe in something so deeply that he would sacrifice everything. Enjolras had awakened a passion within him that set fire to his cynical heart. _

_ He moved forward dazedly, shoving soldiers aside, intent on standing by Enjolras's side in their final moments. He made it to Enjolras and turned back to the soldiers. "Two at one shot," he ordered them. He turned to Enjolras. "Do you permit it?" he asked softly, hoping Enjolras would accept the sacrifice Grantaire was glad to make for him._

_ Enjolras didn't answer with words, but with action. He reached for Grantaire's hand, grasped it tightly in his own, and smiled._

_ Grantaire smiled back, at peace now that he had found something worth dying for._

_ They didn't stop smiling at each other as the soldiers fired upon them. The balls pierced their flesh, but could not pierce their spirit. They both died for the cause they cared about most._

_ Enjolras's body was forced against the wall behind him. His head bowed to his chest, but he did not fall._

_ Grantaire fell at his feet. His body lay in front of Enjolras, next to the man he so admired. The man that finally helped him to know what it was to care about something more than himself._

_ That night, Enjolras and the ____Les Amis de l'ABC__ died trying to bring about a free France. Grantaire died at the side of his greatest friend, making sure Enjolras did not fall alone._


End file.
